Australian Antarctic Division: Leading Australia’s Antarctic Program

Capturing the ocean's microbial diversity

A fluorescence microscope image of cyanobacteria. Each cell is about 1 Ám (0.001 mm) in diameter (Photo: Harvey Marchant)

31st August 2011

During a voyage to the Mertz Glacier in January this year, a team of microbiologists from the University of New South Wales collected water samples to learn more about microbes (bacteria, archaea and viruses) and their role in Southern Ocean ecosystems. The team will use the latest molecular techniques to identify the different microbes present in the seawater, and to understand the metabolic and ecological processes they perform.